Beliefs of the Ancient Egyptians Quiz

Answer: Writing and knowledge

Thoth was considered the scribe of the gods. It was believed by the Ancient Egyptians that Thoth gave them the gift of using the hieroglyphs as a form of writing. He was also thought to be connected with the moon. Thoth was present at the Hall of Two Truths where the weighing of the heart took place. He would record the process of the Weighing of the Heart.

Answer: the soul-devourer

Ammut was the soul-eating monster. She was depicted with the head of a crocodile, the forequarters of a lion and the hindquarters of a hippopotamus. Ammut would sit beside Ma'at at the Hall of Two Truths and would eat the souls that were full of sin and weighed heavier than the feather of Ma'at.

Answer: He helped to embalm Osiris

Anubis was the god that took care of Osiris' embalming process. It was after this that he became the god that watched over the process of mummification of the ancient Egyptians. During the mummification ceremonies, priests usually wore masks of Anubis.

Answer: Orion was considered to be connected with death and resurrection

The process of mummification took seventy days to complete, from death to the funeral. This coincided with the cycle of the constellation Orion. Orion had been considered to be associated with death and resurrection and therefore with the god Osiris.

Answer: The lungs, liver, stomach and intestines

All the organs except the heart were removed. This was because the internal organs were the first to decompose and the Egyptians believed them to be essential to living in the afterlife. So the lungs, liver, stomach and intestines were removed, mummified, and placed in special jars decorated with the four sons of Horus (Hapy, Imesty, Duamutef and Qebehsenuff).

The only organ not to be considered of any value was the brain so this was removed through the nose and then thrown away.

Answer: Osiris

Osiris was the eldest son of Nut (the sky goddess) and Geb (god of the earth) and the brother of Seth, Nephthys and Isis. His brother, Seth, murdered him by tricking him into a coffin. He then threw the coffin into the Nile with Osiris still inside. Isis was able to retrieve the coffin with the help of Nephthys, Anubis and Thoth.

However when Seth found that Osiris had been found, he went to Osiris and tore his body into fourteen pieces, scattering them throughout Egypt. Isis was able to find most pieces of Osiris' body and magically put them back together and keep him alive for a short time.

Afterwards his body was mummified by Anubis. Osiris was then known as the god of death and the Underworld.

Answer: The life force or sustenance

In hieroglyphs, the ka was represented as a pair of arms pointing upwards. It was believed that, while every person would ultimately die, their ka would live on forever, long after death. The Egyptians therefore believed that the ka would need the same sustenance as the living person to survive. Offerings of food were made to the ka and, while the ka would not physically eat it, it was said that they would absorb the life-preserving force of the food.

After the body of the deceased had been mummified, the ka would need to be reactivated so the spiritual transformation of rebirth could take place.

The link to the living through the deceased's tomb would be established when the deceased joined with the ka.

Answer: An ibis

The akh was the resurrected form of the deceased in the afterlife. It was thought of as the spirit or spirit form and was represented in hieroglyphs as an ibis. The akh in its full form was close to our concept of a ghost or spirit. It was believed that the akh could reach beyond the tomb and bring positive and negative effects to the mortal world.

After the ba was successfully united with the ka, the akh was thought of to be unchanged and permanent for eternity.

Answer: It was believed that the soul dwelled within the heart

The Egyptians believed that the deceased would have to go through the "Weighing of the Heart" process before they could reach the afterlife. This process took place before Osiris in the "Hall of Two Truths". The process was to judge whether the soul was worthy of passing through to the afterlife.

The ancient Egyptians believed that the soul dwelt within the heart. Therefore the heart of the deceased would be weighed on the Scales of Truth against the feather of Ma'at (the goddess of truth and Justice).

Answer: It would be devoured and never move on to the afterlife

If the heart weighed equal to Ma'at's feather then the soul would earn eternal life and pass on to the afterlife. However if the heart weighed more than the feather of Ma'at then it was considered heavy with sins and the soul of the deceased would be swallowed by Ammut and sentenced to eternal death and would never reach the peace of the afterlife.